Carr says the evolution of Apple's software design, which continues to emphasize skeuomorphic design, is causing embarrassment within the company.

Skeuomorphic design is a fancy way of describing when Apple replicates physical products with its software designs. For instance, when you use Apple's "notes" app, it looks like a fake legal pad. When you look at the Newsstand app, it has fake wooden shelves.

GameCenter's fake feltScreenshot

Arguably, a good designer should be ditching these relics of past and inventing a new language for users. Instead, Apple is going deeper, emphasizing these elements.

Look at iCal, it has fake stitches across the top as well as fake texture. Or Passbook, Apple's new app for holding on to your boarding passes and other goods. When you go to delete a pass, Apple has a fake paper shredder. Or even the Podcasts app which has imaginary tape recorders running on it.

"It’s visual masturbation," says one former senior UI designer at Apple who worked closely with Steve Jobs. "It’s like the designers are flexing their muscles to show you how good of a visual rendering they can do of a physical object. Who cares?"

The tap machine inside the podcast appScreenshot

"iCal’s leather-stitching was literally based on a texture in his Gulfstream jet," says the former senior UI designer. "There was lots of internal email among UI designers at Apple saying this was just embarrassing, just terrible."

"Steve pushed very hard to have everything--the felt-cloth table, the game chips--look like they would in real life," says another former Apple designer. "Internally, a lot of people were shocked by the richness. Many think it’s gone too far."

[Yves] Béhar cites the example of Apple’s wooden digital bookshelves. "The digital bookshelf doesn’t really work like a bookshelf," he says. "You’re throwing all this extraneous visual noise at me and it’s confusing. My brain, which is used to the physical bookshelf, is confused because of the differences in usability. It’s cute, but not particularly useful."

Says the former senior UI designer at Apple, "I feel like [Apple] has concentrated too much on mimicking the visual skeuomorphic approach rather than concentrating on the actual functionality."